


Lion Turtle

by vanillabutspicy



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Anticipation, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Gratuitous Smut, Marriage Proposal, NSFW, Romance, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:14:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 21,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28004496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanillabutspicy/pseuds/vanillabutspicy
Summary: With Aang’s help, Katara learns to find peace between having a private life and living in the public eye.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar)
Comments: 31
Kudos: 128





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are two illustrations for this fic. When you see the word "talisman", you can safely view this first one without it spoiling anything:  
> https://www.deviantart.com/vanillabutspicy/art/Avatar-s-Love-863880250  
> 
> 
> And the second comes when you see "she crooned":  
> https://www.deviantart.com/vanillabutspicy/art/Undress-Me-863880880

It was never lost on Katara that Aang’s greatest bending ability was taught to him by a lion turtle. Avatar Aang, the most powerful bender in the world and most important political figure in a hundred years, a pacifist. A boy who hid in a shell when he learned of his identity. A lion with a turtle’s way of being. Even the avatar state held this contrast of power and vulnerability. She wondered if it was a balancing act unique to Aang, or if it was an Avatar thing. Either way, it was fitting that the ancient lion turtle taught him to temper those contradictions in a way that mirrored and solidified his own personality, and enabled him to step into himself as he grew to a man.

And he was, undoubtedly, a man. Katara realized this during some downtime while visiting Ba Sing Se for a council meeting a few years after the war had ended. She was waiting in a courtyard for Aang to return from checking on Appa; bureaucratic roadblocks had caused their quick stop there to turn into an overnight stay, so they needed accommodations. She hadn’t given much thought at first to his regard for animals, but she had grown to appreciate how it informed other aspects of his worldview, and how he was equally as concerned about Appa and Momo as any other family member. 

By the time he found her at the courtyard, the sun was descending as the city quieted down, families turning in to prepare dinner. Appa and Momo would be staying in the outer city circle on some farm land. Picturing them floating around in the lush fields, she asked him what it was like to have sky bison everywhere growing up. His answer was just so _Aang_ that she’d never forget it. He reminisced about baby Appa and talked about sharing barn chores with the other monk students. And then he marveled that they don’t use any of their six limbs to hug each other, they use their necks “like everyone else”. Katara thought this was an adorably silly observation. When she probed that he surely meant “like other animals”, he playfully insisted that humans hug with their necks too. 

He gave her a demonstration. First a normal hug to establish a baseline. Then, an awkward embrace where they both tried to wrap the other in their arms without their necks touching. It was decidedly stiff and discomfiting, but humorous. Finally, an “animal hug” without arms. Aang had gained a few inches over her by then, so he leaned down to bring his face near her neck. He paused before actually coming into contact; although he was confident in the point he was making, it was still an unusual gesture that he wanted to execute with the fullest effect. It was a brief pause, but in that anticipation Katara noticed that his energy had shifted from mirth to an unfamiliar sort of hunger. Suddenly, she could focus only on his body heat radiating onto her, and his warm breath exhaling near her ear. Finally, after that single breath that felt like an eternity, he touched his cheek to hers and chuckled softly at her jolt. He turned his face to nuzzle her jawline, traced his lips down her neck, then leaned further forward to press his neck to hers. She felt his pulse on her own, synchronized and compounding to a deafening beat. His chin was nearly wrapped around to the back of her neck, tickling her with his evening stubble.

“It isn’t a hug if it doesn’t leave you vulnerable. It’s a sign of affection and mutual trust.” She heard his words in the air and felt them rumble softly in his throat. By that moment, with his newly deepened voice echoing through her bones and his lean figure towering over her, Katara’s romantic view of him leapt from a target of coy affection to a smoldering thrill. He was right, she felt a unique vulnerability that made her both nervous and excited. The sincerity and confidence she had always known from him was now concentrated on her so directly, it felt like he was pouring his energy over her like a thick fog, blinding her and creating a tantalizing suspense of what would emerge from it. She felt both chased and protected by him.

The fog cleared when they were summoned for dinner, but it was this experience that made Katara aware of just how much he had grown and how much he wanted her to notice. With the awareness of Aang’s maturity came other realizations. For years, waterbending practice in minimal clothing was business as usual to Katara, but now she recognized that it hadn’t been merely waterbending practice for some time. It was a loaded dance, so subtly indulged that she didn’t know she was a participant until Aang shocked her into that paradigm shift in Ba Sing Se. 

From then on, she noticed the water tease from hot to cold and back again as it flowed between them. She felt the ebbs and flows of it creep higher on her thighs than it used to. It pushed a little harder on her hips and then swept her gently the other way to support her balance. His water whips had a different grip to them. It felt like he was exploiting every possible part of their practice to openly tease her in ways that only she could sense. It was a rush to realize, but not surprising that her lion turtle would hide his secret seductions in plain sight.

The anticipation from these exchanges was almost surreal. Sure, it had been fun for Aang when Katara was still oblivious, but now having an unspoken shared understanding was thrilling, if only because now she was reciprocating his advances. Between political responsibilities and group travel, they rarely had opportunities to be alone together, so they found every way they could to covertly express their desires. A slow but insistent caress of the finger while holding hands. A hello kiss with a sigh just loud enough for the other to hear. A hug with a new appreciation for the animal delight of it. Every opportunity to intertwine their auras was seized.

Now and then they’d steal away to briefly let off some steam from the mounting pressure of the tension they shared, but privacy was so fleeting. When they did find themselves alone, circumstances necessitated they not get too lost in each other; there was always a threat of a late night emergency or the risk of dishonoring a host. They came to expect that any engagement with diplomats over a certain age would come with a side of judgmental advice for the young lovers to “take things slow” and “don’t grow up too fast”. It was obnoxious, but they wanted to maintain good political relations, which meant the pair avoided situations where they could be caught off guard.

They found themselves exploring each other as best they could fully clothed. Depending on their attire, this proved to be quite exhilarating at times. One of Katara’s favorite moments had been after a formal dinner in the Fire Nation. They managed to convincingly excuse themselves and sneak to Aang’s room. Katara was leaning on a wardrobe, kissing Aang passionately with one leg up around his thigh. Aang easily maneuvered his hands up through the draping fabric of Katara’s formal gown, squeezing her thighs in his hands as they roamed toward her hips, and pulling her more and more firmly against his bulge. Eventually his fingers crept around the lower hems of her underwear, one hand squeezing the bottom of her buttock in a way that pulled all the way to her folds and made her whimper his name. And then they heard Momo screech past the door outside, heralding the rest of the guests retiring toward their rooms, and signaling them to replace their facade of upright dignitaries who certainly weren’t sneaking around.

The pair was not fond of feeling like their urges were illicit. It was an awkward position to be in; most of their friends and family saw them get together when they were practically still children, and the thought of _everyone_ seeing them age and wondering if they were sleeping together gave Katara even worse oogies than Sokka ever got from witnessing them kiss. They _wanted_ to sleep together, but they didn’t want it to be a topic of conversation and criticism for everyone who knew them. Although, as the avatar, it was basically impossible for the development of his life and love not to be in the public eye. And that is why they tried to keep an innocent image for months, years, too long. And it’s also partly why Aang was eager to propose to Katara.

He put a lot of consideration into how he would propose to her. He knew she wouldn’t want the moment to be a spectacle. But some people would have to know beforehand, namely, Sokka and Hakoda. Aang took advantage of their most recent visit to the Southern Water Tribe to privately get their blessing. Of course they gave it without hesitation, and they were happy to cooperate in keeping it a secret.

With their approval, Aang waited for the right moment. At times, their group would travel by Appa together with different destinations. Aang took advantage of one of these journeys when they all had business on different ends of Republic City. They dropped off Toph and Sokka, and then Aang joined Katara in the saddle after getting Appa on course, leaving Momo at the reins. 

Katara grinned broadly and snuggled up to him, happy to have a quiet moment uninterrupted. “What a rare treat this is, getting Avatar Aang all to myself.” 

Aang laughed and kissed her on the forehead as he wrapped his arm over her shoulders. “I plan to savor it. I told Appa he could take a leisurely pace.” They embraced each other in silence for a moment, listening to each other breathe, feeling each other’s warmth in spite of the wind. Aang inhaled and opened his mouth to lead into his proposal, but Katara spoke first.

  
  
“Aang, I’ve been thinking… we deserve to have more moments like this.” She looked up to read his face. He smiled in agreement, his mouth still open from being caught off guard by her sudden assertion. Satisfied with his reaction, she escaped his arm to sit up straight and put a hand on his shoulder. She looked at him with a smile, but with deep solemnity in her eyes. She hesitated to continue, and Aang started to become concerned.

“Katara, I couldn’t agree more. I think it goes without saying.” They both nodded to each other, Aang to prompt her to continue, and Katara to steel herself for what she was about to say.

“Right. It does. But the thing is... these moments never happen. We’re grown and shouldn’t be waiting for moments to just happen for us.”

Katara’s smile had faded, and a nervous crease came to her brow. Aang put a hand to her face and raised his eyebrows, growing nervous himself and urging her to continue.

Katara took his hand from her face and held it in both of hers. She was already sitting upright but seemed to somehow sit up even straighter. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then let it out sharply. Her smile returned, and she looked into his eyes again. “Aang. I want to have you to myself, and I want it to just feel normal. I know we’ve always talked around it because we both assume we’re on the same page and we got together young, but I want to say this out loud to you: I want to marry you. And I want to grow a family with you. I mean, I know you know that, but I mean—soon. Let’s get married.” She paused and looked up and around, searching for the right words. “I don’t have a gift for you because I don’t know what would be tradition for Air Nomads. I’m probably breaking it anyway by being the one to ask you. It’s definitely not Water Tribe tradition. But in case my rambling isn’t clear, I’m proposing to you.”

She returned her gaze to Aang to see him with a look of relief and delight. He was also speechless, given that she only somewhat took the wind out of his sails by proposing first. Feeling much more confident from his expression, she broke into a wide grin. “Oh, and I already asked Appa and Momo, and they gave me their approval,” she laughed.

“Katara!” Aang choked out her name with a cackle as he leapt forward to grab her into a bear hug. He couldn’t contain his joy. He grasped her tightly as they tumbled sideways in their giddy laughter. He could vaguely hear Appa and Momo vocalizing in agreement with Katara’s claims. They were his only airbending kin, and she honored that by including them. It was such a thoughtful and precious detail. 

Whether it was from laughing so much or being overwhelmed with emotion, they had both gotten misty-eyed. As their laughter slowed and they clung to each other, Katara rubbed one of her eyes and looked down at him again. “So I’ll take that as a yes?”

Aang briefly felt guilty for not saying anything yet. “Of course it’s a yes, but there’s something else I want to add.” He pulled away from their embrace and sat into a kneel. She followed suit, facing him with their knees touching. He took out from his robes the betrothal necklace he made for her and held it out to her with both hands.

Katara gasped at its beauty. The pendant was the same size and shape as her mother’s, but rather than a carved pendant, this one was made of glass. It had a golden yellow base marbled with faint copper shimmers. Embedded on the surface were milky-white blown channels in the shape of the air element symbol. She gently took it from his hands. As it glinted in the light, she could see tiny bubbles moving in the channels as if they were filled with water. The pendant was backed with a layer of metal embossed with green filigree that wrapped around the edges. The metal backing made a loop at the top to hang from a blue ribbon that was woven in a uniform rich hue, but the weave pattern created a look of flowing waves. It was clear that he had used his bending skills of every element to make it: fire to heat the glass, earth to manipulate it, air to blow the channels, and water to fill them. She was impressed by the level of attention to detail and overcome by the significance of what he crafted for her, tears blurring her vision. 

“Sokka and your father gave their approval, too.” Aang looked at her like she was the only real thing that existed. Katara gave him a watery laugh that choked back a sob. She was overjoyed and incredibly moved.

“I want to give you a happy life,” Aang continued. He reached for the necklace and she pulled her hair aside and turned so that he could fasten it around her neck . “And I want you to know that even though I’ll have endless obligations in this world, I want everything that I am to be yours.”

Aang kissed her neck once it was secured, then smoothed her hair back into place. She turned toward him again and failed to find the words for just how meaningful his gift was. It represented him so perfectly. All of his power manifested into a tiny talisman of his love for her. She thought she might explode, or float away. His love, his energy was just so big and dazzling. She was leaning in closer to him, and he gently raised a hand up to her cheek as she closed the gap between their lips. She tried to imbue her kiss with the same amount of care and dedication that his gift made her feel.

They were both still kneeling, and Katara suddenly hated that their knees were so very much in the way. She broke their kiss to hike up her robes and straddle his lap. She wanted to hug him as close as she possibly could, as if to anchor herself to him. “I love you, Aang.”

He hooked his chin over her shoulder and gripped her fiercely. “I love you too, Katara.” His reply was quiet and sincere, but she felt the low rumbling of his voice echo through her body. She remembered the first time she felt that sensation and a delighted chill overcame her. She loosened her grip on him enough to drag her mouth from his jaw to his lips again, just barely brushing them with her own. She studied his face and saw his jaw was tense and his eyes were hooded, looking down to her lips in a silent plea for more of them. It made her feel powerful. She felt his excitement grow from the moment she leapt into his lap, and she rocked her hips into him. He inhaled sharply and his hands crept down her back to grab her bottom, as if to aid her motions. He nuzzled her jaw and she heard him swallow. She rubbed herself on him again, this time focusing on every point of contact between their bodies. Her daydreams hadn’t included these sorts of touches, thinking of them as almost peripheral to her aching core that longed for him. But they were incredible. Squeezing her thighs around his hips, feeling the pressure of him against her pelvis, his eager hands grasping her rear, his breath pressing his toned body against her in a shallow rhythm. It was all together intoxicating.

Aang groaned and carefully lifted their weight enough to reposition himself into a seat to cradle her. His hands moved to support her back and neck as he leaned forward over her. In this position Katara had lost her height over him and the leverage it gave her to move her hips. Aang smirked and panted against her. He could see that she had started to tremble from the rush of their encounter. He leaned in to kiss her sweetly on the lips, and then the cheek, before softly speaking in her ear. “I regret to inform you that we are about to land.”

Katara pouted at him and sighed. “Well, I wasn’t going to go any farther anyway, since we aren’t completely alone,” she said, glancing toward Momo at the reins of Appa. Aang laughed and kissed her again before helping her right herself. They straightened their clothes and Katara fluffed her hair before sitting beside each other arm in arm. Despite the scarcity of alone time, it was hard for either of them to feel disappointed after their mutual proposals.

They spent the following months planning the wedding. Zuko offered to host them on Ember Island, but they felt it would be a greater homage to their future to be wed in Republic City. There was a small island off the shore where Aang and the air acolytes were planning to build a new air temple. They began construction of a kitchen, dining hall, and dormitory right away. The ceremony and celebrations could easily be outdoors, and the wild flora of the island was beautiful, so they didn’t need to rush construction of the temple itself. That would be designed and built based on Aang’s memory, history, and vision, not their increasing romantic urgency.

With the Air Temple Island construction under way, the pair found opportunities to travel together for planning purposes. Flying on Appa wasn’t like being alone in a private room, but they could at least speak freely and be affectionate. Aang made a habit of beginning their flights at the reins, just for appearances. But even from there he would toy with her. He’d prevent the breeze from stirring the air around her, except for tendrils of faint gusts that would start at her neck and blow insistently toward her breasts, then her waist, then her hips. He pretended not to be looking but she could always see his head turned just enough to know she was in his peripheral vision. So she would make a show of seductively collecting her hair, coiffing it, and braiding it. 

This was their routine for a few weeks before Katara escalated the game. As she braided her hair, she used the motion of her hands to simultaneously bend droplets of atmospheric moisture in a cold trail up the back of his neck. He turned around in surprise, his facade broken. She finished tying off her hair with a look of satisfaction. It was almost like a game of tag. She knew he would find a new way to sneak up on her, now that she one-upped him.

It didn’t take him long. That very trip to the island was for the purpose of assessing some deposits of natural white stone revealed by the construction. They needed to determine how much could be mined and how to allocate it. When they arrived, Aang used his seismic sense to see that there was plenty of the stuff to build nearly everything, so they used the rest of their time to coordinate with some earth benders to go about mining it all without leaving a crater. They finished earlier than expected, and Aang sent Katara to prepare Appa for their short trip back to the mainland. He caught up to her after a minute or two, and they were off.

Aang made his way to the saddle with her and instead of sitting down, he pulled something out of his robe and presented it to her, then turned right back around to take up the reins again. What he handed her was a piece of the white stone from the island. He had bent it into a rounded, oblong shape that was as long as her hand and as wide around as a coin in the thickest part. The surface of it was as smooth as glass. 

Just when it dawned on her what he intended for her to do with it, she felt it suddenly and rapidly push and pull in her grip. Her jaw went slack and her eyes grew wide as they darted toward Aang. He was looking over his shoulder at her and fluttering his fingers, causing the stone to move in her grip. He casually said, “I’m not earth bending it—it has water inside,” then mercifully left her alone for the rest of their trip. She quickly hid the gift away in her belongings and spent the rest of their time airborne trying to slow her breathing and cool off. 

After months of planning and construction, summer crept in and the wedding was approaching in a week. All of their closest friends and family arrived early to spend the week celebrating and preparing for the wedding. That night, they had an inaugural dinner in the dining hall. It was an exciting event, but casual. Most people donned clothes that were lightweight and comfortable in the heat. Aang and the air acolytes wore their usual everyday robes, which were already loose and flowing. Katara was dressed in a blue two-piece set; the top tied around her neck and back, and it paired with an embroidered sarong with contrasting, slim-fit shorts underneath. 

While it was wonderful to be together with everyone again, they were entirely distracted by each other. Katara amused herself by moving the water across Aang’s lips that remained after each sip he took. Aang had always been more bold than her, or maybe just more clever. He was so shamelessly stealthy in his taunts that he even leveraged discussions about his vegetarianism to tease her. At one point during the meal, when two air acolytes were debating the reason for the air nomads’ vegetarian diet, Aang described the etymology of the word _animal_ sharing roots with the word _breath_. It was understood that an air bender would naturally honor a being with breath. Katara understood—from his sideways glance at her that followed—that he was making her a promise. He was setting expectations for how their first real encounter would be: animalistic, but tender; human, but more. Every caress and every breath would be charged with intent and devotion, the way everything had been with them since that “animal hug.”

After dinner, people dispersed to wander the island and get comfortable in the dormitories. Aang and Katara stayed in the dining hall to discuss some changes to the kitchen storage, which needed adjustments after its first real use. They were the last ones inside by the time they finished. From their view by the window, they could see a handful of people on the beach. A flame illuminated Zuko catching up with Toph. Katara caught a glimpse of Sokka and Suki walking toward the dormitories together. She felt indignant at their freedom to be unmarried and openly room together. It wasn’t their fault, but it still felt entirely unfair. The fact that they could pass as 17 and 18 when the war ended, plus the fact that neither of them were the Avatar, meant they could develop a relationship with far less scrutiny or criticism. Meanwhile, Katara had to linger in public spaces into the night just to have a quiet moment with her life partner.

Aang noticed her mood shift and followed her line of sight. “That will be us soon enough,” he said, trying to comfort her.

“I know.” She stared out the window, not comforted at all.

Aang took her hands from where they rested on the table and gave them a squeeze. “What’s on your mind?”

Katara wasn’t sure how to explain it to him, partly because she hadn’t sorted it out for herself. “I just… I feel like everyone is breathing down my neck about things that don’t concern them. Looking at Sokka and Suki, I can’t wait to be that carefree with you. I feel like I’ve been censoring myself for so long that I’m not sure if I’ll know how to be with you alone.”

Aang hummed in understanding and studied her face. She was still looking outside, avoiding his eyes. His heart ached to know that her stress came from his status as the avatar. “Let’s take a walk. We’ll get some air and have more privacy.”

She let out a long breath and nodded. They headed for the beach and greeted Toph and Zuko as they passed, setting off in the opposite direction along the water. Aang held his questions and let the sound of the ocean fill the air. After some time he gave her hand a light squeeze to check in.

Katara let out another long breath, her thoughts becoming a bit clearer. “I didn’t mean to imply that loving the Avatar is distressing.” She smiled up at him apologetically. “I know you have pressures and expectations on you, too. They’re just not all the same ones.”

Aang chuckled. “Yeah, I do know a thing or two about that. I think the last time that I lost sleep from being under a lot of pressure, you guys tried to help me by—what was it again?” Katara began laughing as he jogged her memory. “Toph clobbered me with a ‘massage’, you smoked me out with a sauna treatment, and Sokka tried to give me therapy. Why did you let Sokka try to give me therapy?”

They laughed together, big belly laughs that caused them to slow their pace to keep their balance. Aang was happy to see Katara relaxing. He recalled what finally helped him to sleep that night, and he wanted to do the same for her. He turned his back to the ocean and put out an arm to her. “Hey, grab onto me. I want to show you something.”

Katara looked back at their trail to see that nobody else was in sight. She hugged him around the waist and he wrapped his arms over hers. Together they jumped and he used his air bending to launch them inland over the treetops. After a few more leaps they landed outside of a small cottage nestled in the thick of the island’s foliage. It was secluded on all sides. Even the ocean was just a distant whirr. Aang ignited a flame in his hand that shimmered off the building’s walls. It was built from the same white stone as the other recent construction, but Katara couldn’t remember planning this one. She looked between the cottage and Aang. “What is this place?”

He smiled meekly down at her and nervously put his other hand on the side of his neck. “Um, it’s just a groundskeeper’s building that we put here for future use. Anyway, I just thought it might help if we could _actually_ be alone for this conversation. That night when I finally slept before the day of black sun, it was because all of you made me the most comfortable bed imaginable and made me feel like you had my back. This isn’t exactly the same, but it’s a comfortable place to relax in, and I’m here with you.”

Something about it seemed a bit random, but Katara was touched by the gesture nonetheless. She looked up at him with a smile of her own. “That sounds like a very good idea. So what’s in here then? Maybe they’ve stored some folding chairs or something?” 

Aang kept the same meek smile and said nothing as he approached the door. With a flick of his wrist, the flame in his hand disappeared as lights inside came to life. He opened the door and stepped aside for her to enter. The entrance landed them in a small sitting room with a kitchen attached. On the left wall there were two closed doors.They kicked off their shoes and Katara made a beeline to the right for a row of floor cushions, flopping down into them on her side. “Wow, these are fluffy. The groundskeepers here will be comfortable.”

Aang simply laughed and sat down near her head. She brought one hand up to his leg and drew circles on his pants. Aang ran his fingers through her hair. “So… what sort of expectations are bothering you?”

Katara looked up at him, then around the room to find the words. “Well, you know all the sneaking around we do. It’s exciting and I very much enjoy it. But I think the lack of privacy is the reason I can enjoy it without being afraid. Because if we might get interrupted any second, then there are no expectations from either of us for what the moment becomes.”

Aang kept stroking her hair. She looked up at him and saw his concerned expression. “I’m not afraid to be with you,” she asserted. “There’s just a lot of baggage around it from other people that I don’t really care for.”

He was relieved not to be the cause of her worry. “What kind of baggage?”

She shimmied herself up so that her head was resting on his thigh. “For starters, it feels like half the world believes we’ve already been having sex for years, and the other half believes we’ll be having sex for the first time on our wedding night. It’s just so weird for everyone to even have an opinion about it. It makes me feel like I don’t have authority over my own body. I know I chose this, but it was mostly motivated by maintaining our honorable reputations. Or rather, my own reputation. Because the people who assume we have sex—they don’t think it says anything about you. They mainly just raise their eyebrows at me.”

Aang stopped playing with her hair and rested his hand on her upper arm. “I think I understand. That isn’t fair to you.” He wasn’t sure what else to say. It wasn’t something that he could solve. “I wish it wasn’t like that. I hope you know that I see you as a force of your own.” She smiled halfheartedly at him. “Is there more?” 

She gave him an apologetic grimace. “Yeah, there’s also the fact that I don’t really know what to expect. I know how sex _works_ , but I don’t know what makes good or bad sex. I know that bad sex for men is just unsatisfying, but bad sex for women can actually be painful...? And I don’t exactly want to ask anyone about it, since my main issue is people contemplating our sex life in the first place.”

Aang laughed and she looked up at him, startled. “I’m sorry, I’m not laughing at you. Painful sex isn’t funny. It’s just that—well I knew you’d probably not want to ask anyone we know.”

Katara stared at him blankly. “Please tell me you did not ask anyone we know.”

Aang thought about it and laughed some more. “Well, you did meet them once, sort of.” 

She shook her head at him with furrowed eyebrows. “What?”

“I wanted to ask a water tribe member about this sort of thing just in case there were certain expectations that I should know about, but since you know all the same people that I know, I decided to ask Avatar Kuruk—”

“ _What??_ ” 

“—but when I told him what I was reaching out for, Kyoshi showed up and dismissed him.” Aang was laughing as he spoke.

Katara’s expression of horror shifted to confusion and then amusement. “So what did Avatar Kyoshi say?”

Aang reflected on the advice before repeating it. “You know, I probably never would have told you about this but now that I am, I think the advice was meant for me to share with you. She said it’s not a performance. It’s a dance with a partner for no audience. Don’t expect it to be perfect. Don’t expect anything other than to communicate and be present.”

Katara was surprised by the nature of the advice. She thought it would have been more about mechanics. “Well, that’s actually quite nice.”

“Right?” Aang paused as he played over the conversation in his mind again. “She also drew some anatomy diagrams in the sand, but those mostly seemed like an afterthought to keep me from blundering. Otherwise, she just said that it would be better for us to figure it out as we go.” He grinned down at her and an easy smile spread across her lips.

“Well I guess that explains why you don’t seem nervous about it at all. You have past lifetimes to draw wisdom from.”

Aang chuckled bashfully. “That, and I’ve been pushing your buttons long enough to have some idea of what you like. And for what it’s worth, I think we’re pretty good at communicating.”

Katara thought of all the ways they found to express their desire for each other and felt her entire body flush. “Yeah, you have a point there.” She sat up and moved closer to him so she could rest her head on his shoulder. 

He took her hand and laced his fingers between hers. “I took it to heart though, what she said about expectations. Because you’re right; when we don’t have time and don’t know how far we can get, it’s like being in a different world with you. I feel more present than when I meditate. So when I have you to myself, I don’t want that to change. I just want more of it.” He felt her squeeze his hand, and he kissed the top of her head. “How do you feel now?”

Katara took a deep breath and let most of her anxiety out with it. It was surprising how the things that felt impossible to solve seemed insignificant after talking to him. But of course her lion turtle could help her make peace between the yearning and hesitation in herself. “I’m feeling relieved. There’s one more thing I should get off my chest though.” 

She trailed off and lifted her head to look at him. Even after she spent the whole night unloading on him, he was still listening attentively. “You’re such a gift to me in so many ways.” She looked down at his chest and mulled over her words before speaking them. “Years ago when I first realized you could bend water, I was excited about what it meant for my own skills, but I was also excited to meet another waterbender. I never thought I would. Seeing you bend water feels like being home.” She looked back to his face. He was beaming at her, a mix of elated and touched. “I want to give you the same feeling. I want to have little airbender babies with you and give you that wholeness of meeting family that you thought were lost. But what if it doesn’t happen? You’re the last one...”

Aang scooped her up into his lap and clutched her so tight that they fell over, Katara on her back and Aang on his side. She couldn’t see his face in their embrace, but she heard him sniff and let out a few quiet laughs that might have also been sobs. He propped himself up on one elbow and looked down at her. “I’m sorry, how are you so precious? How did I get to be the one you love?” 

She looked relieved but her eyes darted around his face, searching for any apprehension.

“Katara, you brought me back from the dead. Twice. Life itself and the picture of your face share the same space in my mind. I don’t think the universe would have us fall in love and then let me disappear as the last of my kind.” She still seemed uneasy and he realized that he had more or less affirmed the pressure on her to repopulate, rather than mitigating it. He looked across the room and tried to reframe his sentiments. “What I’m trying to say is that I’ll be happy with whatever our life becomes as long as you’re with me. You are my life. The fact that you want those things makes my heart burst. And even if we never get them, I’ll still get to spend the rest of my life with somebody whose intentions alone fill me up.” 

She gave him a watery smile and played with the fabric of his robes on his chest. “You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?” 

He shook his head. “No way. Look over there.” 

He pointed to the wall opposite of where they sat. She hadn’t really taken in their surroundings until now. The room was actually very cozy. The wall that Aang was pointing to held a gallery of framed pictures. From the distance, Katara thought she could make out paintings of the existing air temples. One of them looked like the land of the southern water tribe, which seemed odd for a groundskeeper’s building at Air Temple Island. She scanned the rest of the frames and saw a portrait of Team Avatar that had been painted to mark the end of the war, then a portrait of Aang, and a portrait of herself. She looked back at his smiling face. “What is this place, really?”

The sheepish look he wore when they arrived returned, and he fiddled with the pendant on her neck in order to avoid eye contact. “I’m not much of an architect on my own, but I wanted to build a place for us to start our life together. And I mean _start_. Maybe we’ll move into the temple when it’s done, or maybe you’d rather live somewhere else entirely. But to start, we can live here and it’s just us. I put it here out of the way to keep it a surprise until we got married, but it didn’t make sense anymore to wait until then.” He tilted his head to gesture toward the two doors on the same wall with the pictures. “There’s the bathroom, and there’s the bedroom. Just one. Just for us.” He looked back down at her with total sincerity. “ _If_ there becomes more of us, then we can make adjustments. But right now, my only expectations are to love you until I’m dead for good. And then I’ll love you forever as a spirit.”

Katara’s eyes glinted with tears in the light of the lanterns as she looked up at him with the most genuine smile he’d seen all night. She put her hands on his face and pulled him closer. “You’re a very good man.” Her throat was tight with emotion, and that was all she could manage to say. She hoped her voice carried the weight of how much she meant it.

Aang held her gaze and basked in the love that radiated from her. She sniffled as a tear escaped her eye. He kissed her forehead, sat them upright with a gust, and handed her a handkerchief. “Come on, let me show you around.” 

The little cottage felt like a warm hug. Aang made a show of presenting it to her as though it were a grand palace. The sitting room they were in was filled with potted plants and low furniture. It had a grounding atmosphere compared to the vibrant, fiery colored kitchen attached. They peeked into the bathroom, where the blue mosaic floor looked like a current pulling them toward the back wall. Centered along it was a generously sized tub made from the island’s white stone. It gave the impression of the moon’s reflection on water, heightened by the actual moonlight falling in through skylight windows above. The tour concluded in the bedroom. It held simply a dresser and a bed, dressed in light gray linens and bright yellow pillows. It looked like puffy clouds cradling the sun.

For all of Aang’s humility about it before, he was still clearly proud to be showing her the place he built for them. Between feeling unburdened from their conversation and the warm atmosphere of the cottage, Katara felt weightless. She was drawn to the bed and landed on it face-first, just to see if it felt as comfortable as it looked. It did, and a yawn came over her almost instantly as she sank into it.

Aang caught her yawn. “I guess it’s pretty late. Should I take you back?”

Katara appreciated the fact that after hearing all her insecurities, he didn’t try to use their current circumstances as an invitation for teasing. He was a gentleman for offering to bring her back, but she didn’t want to leave. “Not yet. You can’t just give me a house with a bed like this and then expect me to leave so soon. I don’t think I’ve felt so at ease since we kissed after the war ended. This place is perfect.”

Aang sat on the edge of the bed beside her, pleased with himself. “Alright then. Be at ease.” He covered his mouth with his hands and exhaled a breath of fire into them. He dimmed the flames of the lanterns as he lowered his hands, placing them on her exposed shoulders. The heat instantly relaxed her.

For a while, the only sounds were the faint rustling of fabric as Aang worked on her knots and kinks. Even lying on their bed with his hands all over her, he sought to give her what she needed instead of seeking what he wanted; or perhaps in this moment, they were the same thing. His touch was not demanding or suggestive. He could manipulate her entire being as effortlessly as he did her shoulders, but he simply chose to care for her. Aang’s hands made their way to her mid back, and Katara’s appreciation lingered on her lion turtle’s effortless balance between making advances and respecting her boundaries. It seemed he could bring harmony to any two things, blending them together while still embodying both. 

She sighed and folded her arms under her head, with her face turned toward her side where Aang sat. He was focusing on his own hands and didn’t seem to notice her sidelong glance. It was remarkable how dedicated he was to her wellbeing. In this house he built, nobody’s thoughts or opinions were peeping through the windows or prying open the door because nobody else knew it was there. It was just them, and Katara felt entirely unencumbered. 

Aang shifted from targeted tissue work to long, broad strokes down the length of her back. The pressure moved her body slightly with his passes, and it felt like she was floating in water. Like they were running through their waterbending forms, pushing and pulling, swaying and teasing. He was still focused on his efforts, and Katara couldn’t read any hint on his face that he intended his methods to turn her thoughts in that way. Respectful and flirtatious. Hunting and protecting. All at once, the contrast emphasizing all of them together. She waited for his strokes to meander down her back again, and raised her hips slightly to meet the motion. 

Aang pretended not to notice. For her sake he wanted things to progress on her terms, so he waited for her to give a less subtle hint. His hands made a few more passes, and Katara lifted her backside once more and pressed into him where he sat beside her. He held back a smirk and kept his focus on his hands until they traveled back down again, past the small of her back, caressing down across her hips and ass. He finally looked at her face to gauge her reaction and was almost startled by the direct honesty of her gaze. The view of her so hungrily peering at him around her elevated curves was the most alluring invitation he could have imagined. “Undress me,” she crooned.

His heart raced at the sound of her voice. He trailed his still warm hands down her thighs to reach under her sarong. He used one hand to pull it up out of his way and find the knot of it, and slid the other one back up her inner thigh with a squeeze. She whimpered and squirmed into his hand while he untied her garment. With the knot out of his way he climbed fully onto the bed and straddled her lightly just below her pelvis. He leaned down to kiss a trail up her spine while he untied the knots of her top. She shivered from the sensation of his lips, his hot breath gliding across her skin, the weight of him on top of her. 

Within the pressure of his weight she felt his erection against her rear, and gyrated up into him. He was like the driving winds of an oncoming storm, and she felt herself as the ocean swelling and rising to meet him. Aang let out a heavy groan that vibrated through her whole body. She felt her shirt ties fall away. His weight came off of her and a hand snuck under her ribs to nudge her around. She rolled over onto her back and they froze at the sight of each other. Katara realized she had been experiencing Aang’s touch with closed eyes before now, and the added sight of him was almost more than her mind could process. She had tunnel vision as she fixated on the hand that turned her over, the beautiful forearm, the bicep, the shoulder, the _muscles_. Her hand followed the trial of her vision of its own accord. 

Aang stared at her too. He’d seen the silhouette of her curves plenty of times, but her unbound figure falling naturally before him was a vision from another world. Her breasts looked almost designed for his hands, perfectly round and puckered tightly at her nipples. He watched the candlelight dance across her chest and up her neck, exposed to him by the slight turn of her face. Her hair twisted and splayed above her head on the pillow like a crown. The eyes of his goddess were fixed on his body with the same love-drunk intensity that he felt. 

Katara grasped at his bicep. A shadow dashed across Aang’s throat as he swallowed, and it roused her from her stupor. Their eyes met, then their lips. It was a gentle and familiar connection they’d shared so many times, now grounding them on the cusp of this new territory. Aang broke their kiss just enough to murmur into her lips. “You’re radiant.” 

He placed a hand on her ribs just below her breast, and her lips parted with a sigh, spurring him on. He traced his tongue along her bottom lip as he moved his hand up the slope of her breast and gave it a delicate squeeze, catching the peak between his first two fingers. She moaned emphatically and it sent a wave of heat and pride through him, doubling as he felt her reach for his belt. He planted a row of kisses from her jaw to her collarbone as she tossed aside his belt and grabbed at his robes. In one fluid motion he sat up and lifted his robes up and off his torso, letting them fall to the floor. 

Katara hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her shorts and gently nudged her thigh into his, silently asking for his aid. He moved to the side, making space for her to pull down her shorts and underwear as far as her knees. Aang pulled them the rest of the way down her legs, discarding them. She was entirely naked now, the arcs of her lithe form flowing uninterrupted, in and out like ocean waves on the shore of their bed. He wanted to bathe in her. He laced his arms under her legs and traced his hands up her body, lowering himself between her legs and his face down to her hip with a kiss.

Katara looked down at him to see the arrows of his tattoos all pointing to her, emphasizing the intensity of his adoration. She played with her chest, wanting to reproduce the thrill he’d given her there. He kissed her again, close to her center, asking for permission as the heady scent of her arousal pulled him in. He looked up for an answer and saw her touching herself, her eyes begging him to continue. He flexed his grip on her waist and nuzzled into her curls. He felt the small swell of her clit with his lips and ran his tongue around it in circles.

Her head fell back to the pillow and her chest heaved. She pinched herself and her other hand gripped his wrist. Aang pressed his tongue harder into her and brought his untethered hand to her folds. He traced a finger up and down, exploring the pleats and creases. They were hot, slick, and pliant, urging him to penetrate her. He teased a few more circles with his tongue, turned up his hand, and slowly pushed a finger into her burning entrance. She shivered and exhaled sharply, tightening her grip on his wrist. 

She was so deliciously warm and wet inside. His finger easily glided in and out of her to the cadence of her labored breath. He savored watching her come undone this way, seeing her body writhe in pleasure from such small efforts of his hand and mouth. Her hand on his wrist grasped indecisively up his forearm and down again. Her other hand touched his head gently, then latched onto his fingers at her waist. 

“Aang…” He looked at her face as she sat up slightly. “Aang, don’t stop, but... come here. I want to touch you.”

He extricated himself and settled down beside her. Katara took his face in her hands and kissed him, moaning into his lips as he reentered her. The new angle allowed him to press the palm of his hand against her as he fingered her, rubbing her clit harder than his tongue could. She sank back into the bed. Her body arched toward him, never getting enough contact. Every stroke of his hand stoked the fire in her core, and every touch of his body was a bellow fanning the flame. 

Aang’s finger naturally curled as he moved it in and out of her. His fingertip reached a wall, or a bend, and he cautiously pressed into it. She gasped and tilted her hips up into his touch, urging him to keep pressing it. Her hand not near him returned to her breast, and the other crept into the waistband of his loosened pants, searching to reciprocate the pleasure that threatened to spill out of her. 

His rhythm faltered as her fingers found his velvety smooth length. She wrapped her hand around the wet tip and he thrust into her grip with a moan, nuzzling the crook of her neck. The skin had a give to it, barely sliding in her hand even as his member did within it. She tightened her grip and stroked him slowly, learning his body in her haze. 

Aang looked down at their entanglement, wanting to see her hand around him, but his pants obscured most of the view. Instead his eye was drawn to the motion of her toying with her breast. He leaned in toward the other one closest to him and captured the peak in his lips. She let out a long groan. Her hand gripped tighter on his shaft as her womb squeezed down on his finger. Her response thrilled him, enticed him, provoked him to draw out more from her. 

“Aang… _yes…_ ” There was a tsunami rising in Katara’s core, swelling higher and higher, building pressure between every cell of her flesh. She thought it might climb endlessly, until Aang’s mouth found her skin. The soft pinching and tugging of his lips sent a bolt of lightning through to her groin and the crest of the swell broke. Her breath suspended as the wave of pleasure turned to fall, a moment of weightlessness before it crashed over her and sent her spiraling through an abyss of ecstasy. Her legs seized, her body convulsed, and her voice cried out in ways she couldn’t control if she even cared to try. Aang continued to pleasure her as her inner walls spasmed around his finger, and even still as her reaction eventually tapered down. He slowed his strokes to match her energy. Her muscles relaxed, and her cries reduced to whimpers, but her breathing was still erratic.

Aang looked to her for any sign of when he should stop. It seemed the peak of her orgasm had passed, but she was still drifting along in the wake of it. He kissed her cheek and she pried her eyes open to see him. Her brow was still twisted by pleasure and she moaned softly with each motion of his hand. He was amazed by the experience she was having, especially by his role in it, and he thrust into the grip she still had on him. “Katara,” he breathed. “Your body is incredible.”

She couldn’t find the words to respond. It wasn’t only her body; it _never_ felt this good when she was by herself. She’d had orgasms before, but his love and touch awoke a part of her being that she’d been hiding in the shadows, afraid to fully acknowledge. He coaxed it out of her without any shame or embarrassment. He embraced it and celebrated it. She felt more of his love for her through it. It made her feel electric, like her breath was filling more of her body. She was present—she had _arrived_ —summoned by the wonderful man still gently escorting her through her state of bliss. She was ready to fully meet him.

She touched his forearm lightly and he understood it as a signal to stop. He slowly removed his finger from inside of her, glistening with her fluids, and he hesitated over what to do with it. She released her grip on his erection and nudged him onto his back by the shoulder, rolling over with him and getting up to kneel over him. She took his wet hand by the wrist, pulled back the front of his pants, and placed his hand on his member. He immediately stroked himself, eager to cooperate. She returned both of her hands to his waistband and he lifted himself for her to remove his clothes, scooting himself back on the bed in the process to lean against the pillows. He watched as she admired the muscles in his thighs, tracing a finger slowly up toward his groin. Her caress rounded his scrotum and she delicately, curiously fondled its contents. He exhaled sharply and slowed the stroke of his hand. Katara leaned down to his crotch, looking at him, and he froze with anticipation. 

She held his gaze and slowly wrapped her lips around the tip. He moaned helplessly. He’d fought a volcano, danced with dragons, and survived a fire lord powered by Sozin’s comet, but this was the hottest his blood had ever run. She backed off and put her hand around his, moving it down, studying as the foreskin was pulled back. Her eyes met his again and she ran her tongue around the exposed tip, watching him as he gasped through his teeth, his jaw clenched. “Katara,” he pleaded. Her gentle explorations were driving him to a frenzy. She sat up and crawled forward to kiss him. “Katara, please,” he murmured to her lips.

Katara didn’t mean to tease him so; she just wanted to see how he felt pleasure before taking him inside of her so that she could focus on her own sensations when it happened. She kissed him again and swung a leg over his lap. She sat upright and lowered herself to rock against his length between them, and Aang latched onto her hips, pulling her down harder to increase the pressure. She thrust into him, learning the motion and enjoying the friction against her clit as she gathered her courage. 

Eventually she lifted herself again and took hold of his erection upright beneath her. She slid the tip back along her entrance and felt it settle into place. She watched Aang’s face react to every small touch, the anticipation skewing his brow, tilting his head forward, and darting his eyes from her face to his lap. His reactions swept away any last nerves from her, and she carefully lowered some of her weight, pressing hushed notes of awe out of both their throats.

His girth was wider than the stone toy he’d given her, so she moved slowly for her body to adjust. She sank until she felt resistance in herself, then backed off until it gave way to intense desire for more. She repeated this with each breath, taking him in gradually like a tide consuming the shore, his hissing of restrained enthusiasm like the crashes of the waves. 

Aang was panting and grasping tightly at her thighs, trying to participate without influencing her motions as she acclimated. The heat he felt within her was just so exquisite and welcoming, like he belonged there. The physical pleasure of entering her was only matched by the emotional rush of their mutual vulnerability in it. He began to lose track of where he ended and where she began. He always knew that the separation of their existence was an illusion, but being inside her felt as if that knowledge had been just a rumor until now.

Katara was amazed by the fullness she felt, the deeply satisfying presence of him. She took his hands that were still desperate for an outlet and moved them to her rear. With small, slow motions, she rocked back and forth as she’d done before to ease her remaining tension. Her muscles quickly relaxed and she leaned forward to grip his shoulders, pressing herself against his body and moaning into the crook of his neck. His pelvis ground against her and the angle inside her was exhilarating. But she was aware that her thrusts were relatively shallow, and she’d been edging him around and teasing him ever since she interrupted the back massage he was giving her. As if on cue, she felt him drag his teeth along her shoulder and bite down firmly but gently in pent-up frustration. She felt his grip on her cheeks pull and squeeze hard in search of more friction. She gasped at the thrill of his actions but got the message. “Ok… you take control—”

Before she could finish the suggestion, he flipped them over with a gust and she landed on her back. The lanterns were blown out, and Aang loomed over her on his elbows in the moonlight. He kissed her gently then began to move with caution, watching her face for any sign of discomfort. But there was none. Instead she closed her eyes in bliss, and he felt her arms and legs wrap around him in the most affirming embrace his spirit would ever know. He hooked his hands under her shoulders for leverage and kissed her neck as he gradually increased the speed of his thrusts. She started to moan with each stroke as he found a rhythm, their pleasure amplifying together in a feedback loop. 

If he had conjured a tsunami in Katara before, then this felt to her like being the ocean itself. It wasn’t building toward anything, and it didn’t need to. She felt a sort of existential euphoria of being the waves, flowing with his push and pull, in and out. The utter intimacy of it was sublime. Every second satisfied her while it left her craving more of him, somehow. She wanted all of him. She held him closer, pulled him deeper with her legs, and squeezed her core tighter around him, flexing with each thrust.

The fire in Aang raged in earnest. He didn’t know if he would burn alive from need or drown in the relief of her fulfilling it. “Katara,” he choked. “I won’t last much longer.”

“Good,” she breathed, pressing her fingers into his back. “I want to feel it.”

Her words were like a faint breeze, but they sent him reeling into a burning canyon of ecstasy that quaked around him, shaking his bones, erupting through him. His thrusts slowed to a stop and his mind went blank as he burst into her, groaning, twitching, shuddering. Katara hummed with primal satisfaction at the feeling of his spasms within her. He returned to himself and the only thought he had was of the warm body beneath him and the woman he loved therein. He rested his head by her shoulder and pulled one arm out from under her to stroke her hair as they caught their breath. Their breathing slowed and he let out a long sigh, then ran his lips across hers, kissing her softly. He pulled away to look at her when he felt her smile.

“You’re remarkable, Aang,” she said quietly. “You’re amazing.”

He returned her smile, and it broadened to a mischievous grin. “Oh, remarkable? What are your remarks?” he teased. 

Katara laughed and squeezed him playfully in her arms. “Excellent technique, perfect form. You really stuck the landing.”

He blushed and looked away, laughing with her. “That’s high praise. But I’d say the same for you.” His eyes glazed over momentarily as he replayed it in his mind. “It was unbelievable. I thought you said you didn’t know what would make sex good?”

She laughed sheepishly. “Well I didn’t _know_. But I had plenty of time to fantasize before today. This was a long time coming.”

Aang raised his eyebrows at the double entendre and Katara gasped at him with mirth, nudging his arm. “On that note, do you need…” he faltered for words. “You seemed really into it at the end. Are you satisfied?”

She brought a hand to his face. “I am _beyond_ satisfied,” she insisted, becoming serious again. She looked at him intently. “Do you feel as cherished as I do?”

He nodded. “I feel beyond cherished.”

She couldn’t help but beam at him. For a moment they simply enjoyed one another in silence, amazed by each other. A yawn slowly overtook Aang and he buried his face into her shoulder again in denial. “Let’s get cleaned up,” Katara laughed. “That bath sounds nice right now.”

“I can’t argue with that,” he replied. He kissed her once more before getting up and began to gather their clothes. 

Katara’s sarong and top were still underneath her on the bed, and she sat up and pulled them out from under her. She realized Aang was collecting their clothes for them to wear again once they were freshened up, assuming that she would still want to sneak back to her room at the dormitories. She got off the bed and he turned to her, extending a hand for the rest of her clothes. She handed them over and looked to the dresser across from the bed. “Do you have something clean here that I could sleep in?”

Aang looked at the dresser and back at her. “I have some basic underlayer things. Shorts and plain shirts.” She walked over to the dresser and he waved the correct drawer open by its decorative clay knob. “They’re bright orange, though. Not exactly subtle.” 

She took out a set for herself and closed the drawer, turning back to him with a look of contentment. “Orange is perfect. I don’t think I care about being subtle anymore.”

He stepped toward her, not sure what she meant by that. “Oh?”

“Yeah. Can we sleep here? Do you want to?” 

He put their clothes on top of the dresser and put his hands on her waist with a serene smile. “Of course, I would love that. Are you sure?”

He was considerate for asking, but she had no reservations anymore. She no longer cared if other people had opinions about how they spent time together. No opinion could possibly matter more to her than what they just experienced together. “I’m certain.” 

Aang kissed her forehead and stepped back. “I’ll draw the bath.”

She followed him into the bathroom. He began to fill the tub and she found a cloth for herself, cleaning off the sticky parts so as not to bring them into the bath. She rinsed the towel in the sink and put it in the laundry basket, catching her reflection in the full length mirror beside it. She looked different to herself. She saw Aang’s reflection behind her, looking at her too. “Do I look different to you?”

His eyes met hers through the mirror with a smile. “Well, you’re naked, which looks different for me.” She chuckled at him and he considered her question more seriously. “You look more beautiful than I’ve ever seen you. But I’ve never seen you like this before, so I don’t think I can give you a real answer.”

Katara mulled over his words as they got into the tub. They took their time washing each other, memorizing every curve and muscle. They’d used water to touch each other so often that bathing naked together was warm and familiar. Their intimacy felt as natural as bending did. Katara almost felt foolish for having denied their relationship of these experiences for so long. It was spectacular, and so fundamentally ordinary. It was basic animal instinct that had been calling for years, just waiting for her to get out of her head and into her body. 

Their fingers turned pruny and they climbed out of the bath, sending the water from their bodies down the drain. Katara saw her reflection again and thought that Aang must be right about it. She looked the same objectively, but she hadn’t seen herself this way before. She’d always recognized her face as Katara from the Southern Water Tribe. Her hands were Katara the healer. Her limbs were Katara the fighter. And her body was always just her body, somewhat detached from her identity and obscured for the sake of public opinion. But now she could see her body as Katara the lover. She saw every part of it with the same comfortable and immediate recognition as seeing her face. It was different in its sudden familiarity.

They returned to the bedroom to pull on pyjamas and crawl under the blankets. Katara had felt Aang’s air nomad linens thousands of times, but they still felt new on her skin. Everything felt somehow the same and changed. She tucked herself into Aang’s chest under his chin and they got comfortable in each other’s arms. 

Aang kissed the top of her head and inhaled her scent. “I want to be this happy with you forever. I feel like I’m dreaming.”

Katara squeezed him. “It can’t be a dream. I can feel you and your breath. And your warmth… and your heart.” Her exhaustion settled in as his body’s rhythms played for her like a lullaby. “They feel so new.”’

Aang stilled himself and felt Katara’s rhythms too. It was new to feel them this freely. He had wanted to for a long time, ever since he managed to get a taste of her as a woman by calling it an animal hug. “I think I know what you mean.”

Katara hummed. “It’s like… I can feel new energy in my senses,” she mumbled. 

Aang was drifting to sleep with her. But her words sounded familiar as they replayed in his mind, trying to match them with whichever memory they triggered. Suddenly it came to him. “Have you been talking to a lion turtle?”

Katara didn’t say anything. He picked his head up to see that she was asleep. He returned his head to the pillow and kissed her crown again, closing his eyes. “Good night, my lion turtle.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started this just wanting some sneaky bending-fueled smut, and then the artist in me screamed, "it needs to mean something". So I hope this meant something for you. If you liked it then please let me know!
> 
> A big lion turtle-sized thanks to my betas Ambrosia Jones (ao3), foxy-knowledgeseeker (tumblr), and queen-korri (tumblr) for keeping me hyped about writing this and helping me to make it coherent.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for everyone who read chapter 1! I only ever planned to write the one chapter because that was the story I wanted to tell. Now that I'm adding on I feel like I should give a disclaimer that from here on out it's just more fluff and smut with even more vague direction than chapter 1. And there's sort of some relationship development but this chapter is a lot of set-up for the one that will follow. 
> 
> PS: There's another drawing for this chapter: https://www.deviantart.com/vanillabutspicy/art/Urgent-cropped-872532997

Aang was already out of bed when Katara roused from her slumber and reached for him in the empty space beside her. She wasn’t surprised that he’d gone, though; she always knew him to be an early riser. And as much as she wanted to bask with him in their haze of love forever, she knew they each had a lot of work to do before the wedding, regardless of their celebrations last night. 

She rolled to her back, her legs unexpectedly stuck together, and more memories of the night returned to her. She recalled that at some point she’d come to by the heat of Aang’s lips on her neck and his hand creeping up her shirt from behind her, a mix of moonlight and the earliest glow of pre-dawn coming through the windows. One touch, and she’d gone from dreaming of him to feeling his affections in the waking world. Another touch, his urgency transferred into her like a wildfire leaping to the next thing in its path, consuming her with it. The next touch was her reaching back to pull at his shorts, ignoring his offers to satisfy her first, preferring the intimacy of his length over the dexterity of his hand.

It didn’t take him much convincing. She was still lying in a fetal position when he pulled her shorts off just past her hips, stopping at her thighs where they presently remained. He spooned her and entered her tenderly, kissing the back of her neck, picking up speed with her moans.

The rest was a blur. It was loving and frantic, sleepy and urgent. She grabbed at his legs and pulled with his thrusts, drifting through the steady euphoria that his presence within her induced. She vaguely remembered a storm of affection and groping after he finished, but she couldn’t match his energy. She was satisfied enough at the time to simply go back to sleep, not bothering to get up to clean herself in his wake. 

She was already turned on by the memory, but the realization that she still had evidence of him between her legs sent a shiver through her that made her squirm. In their years together she always imagined that the pleasure and intimacy of being with him would come from the heat of the moment. But something about the enduring tangibility of his release added so many more layers to the experience in a way that she still hadn’t quite wrapped her head around. All she knew is that she ached as though he’d never touched her yet—except even worse, because he had, and now she knew exactly how good it felt.

Still, she was no stranger to this. She’d spent countless nights just one room over from him, longing for him and ultimately relieving herself alone. She reached down to indulge, her new memories replacing the fantasies she always relied on. She traced a finger along her heat, finding a pool of slickness at her entrance. The evidence of her current arousal mixed with the remnants from earlier, and she spread it up to her clit, teasing herself. It was sloppy, oozing, and incredibly erotic. It made for short work.

When she finished, she rolled to the edge of the bed and got up. As she headed for the bathroom she saw her luggage and rucksack for the week leaning against the wall. Aang must have retrieved it for her. She thanked the spirits for his thoughtfulness as she washed up. She had a later start than him, but still a busy day ahead, and it was a relief that her fresh clothes were already there for her. Once she was clean and dry, she dressed and headed for the door to try and find a path to the dining hall. 

Aang had thought of that, too. She opened the door to see a new trail of white stepping stones starting at the threshold and forking off a couple dozen feet ahead. One path clearly led to the ocean, the other toward the dining hall and dormitories. The first step at her feet was shaped like a heart. She covered her mouth and squealed quietly to herself as she tapped a small dance of delight before trotting along the path. 

Within a few minutes she came to the rear of the dining hall. She entered to find a group of air acolytes weaving vibrant tapestries and tassels for Appa to wear. Another group was embroidering ceremonial robes and capes. 

Toph was there too. She was bending a rainbow of crystals into small beads, zipping them into perfect rows, and sending a needle and thread through them at a pace that made the delicate task look like an act of aggression. Katara approached her.

“It’s about time you showed up, Sweetness! The kitchen said they have some final samples for you to try. I passed on breakfast so I could help you with it, and I’ve been hungry for an hour!” 

Katara chuckled at her. “How generous of you to withhold for my sake, Lady Beifong. So selfless. My apologies.”

Toph slammed a few final rows of beads onto string with a flippant gesture. “Don’t mention it. I’m happy you seem to have slept well.”

Katara was taken aback and her mouth hung open, reflexively looking for an excuse. She didn’t actually care if Toph knew, she just didn’t expect it to come up so soon. 

Toph stood up. “Oh spirits, for once I wasn’t trying to imply anything. But your reaction explains why Aang is acting like ten of himself today.” She started to walk toward the kitchen doors. Katara laughed and followed. She hadn’t seen Aang yet, but she believed Toph.

They entered the kitchen to a commotion. Sokka had apparently caught wind of there being samples and was harassing the cooks. He turned sharply when he noticed their arrival, putting his hands on his hips. “Katara, you would not _believe_ the rumor they’re telling me about what you’ve done!”

Katara held a blank expression, not wanting to repeat what just happened with Toph. “What’s the rumor?”

“They said you chose a vegetarian menu! My own sister!”

Katara relaxed and smirked at him, folding her arms. “Oh, yes, that’s true. This is Air Temple Island. Did you miss that memo?”

Toph laughed under her breath and leaned against a cabinet to get comfortable. Sokka extended both arms toward her, pointing at her dramatically. “But you’re half of the wedding! I was looking forward to some seafood.”

She understood his disappointment. They hadn’t shared a Southern Water Tribe meal together in quite some time, and a special event for their people would normally include a feast of animal-heavy dishes. But she couldn’t in good conscience ask air acolytes to cook meat for her, or ask Aang to compartmentalize on a day that should feel like a celebration of them both. “There will still be sea prunes and fish-style tofu,” she explained. “And you devoured two plates of the vegetarian dinner last night. You’ll be fine. Besides, Aang is the other half of the wedding, and I don’t think our traditions should be more important than his.”

Sokka narrowed his eyes and turned his head to look at her sideways. “If we could all eat what we want, then how would that be prioritizing our traditions over his?”

Katara sighed. “Believe me, I struggled with it too, but it’s not that simple. I think asking the air acolytes to cook meat would hurt them more than not having a familiar meal would bother us. They wouldn’t give us grief if I asked for meat, especially not Aang, but it would still be putting them in an uncomfortable position.”

Sokka rolled his eyes and shrugged, reluctantly accepting the explanation. “Well fine, but Momo won’t be happy about this either,” he joked, cracking a grin at her. He took a puff pastry from a plate on the counter and tossed it in his mouth, then grabbed a handful of them to stuff in his pocket as he made for the exit. “Grab your samples to go and meet me outside. We should get started on the statues while Aang is busy.”

He walked out the door, and the cooks looked relieved for him to be gone. One of them opened an oven to reveal two plates of samples already arranged. She took them out and handed them over to Katara and Toph, who bowed and thanked them before leaving.

Outside between the dining hall and dormitories was a small clearing that would eventually become a square as the island construction progressed. It overlooked the beach enough that Katara could see Aang there speaking to Zuko, gesturing wildly and practically leaping in place. 

“Come on, Katara, quit ogling!” Sokka called to her from across the clearing, waving her toward him where he sat in the grass with Suki and Hakoda. 

She followed Toph toward them, the view of the beach receding behind the crest of the overlook. 

“I don’t think you’re supposed to see what he’s doing, anyway,” Hakoda said.

“Yeah, Katara, you’re not the only one planning surprises,” Toph added as they sat down with the rest of the group. “So is anyone going to tell me what this business is about sculptures, or statues, whatever it was? What am I here to earthbend?”

Katara swallowed the bite of food she’d taken. “I want to recognize my mother and Gyatso at the ceremony since they would be there, if they were around. So I was thinking you could bend statues of them.” Katara smiled at her brother and father. “Based on how I look and what my dad can describe, you should be able to get my mom’s likeness easily.”

“Okay,” Toph said with her mouth full, “but what about Gyatso?”

“I can describe him to you while Katara deals with other things,” Sokka chimed. “We saw a statue of him at the Southern Air Temple with Aang once.”

Suki looked dubious. “No offense Sokka, but do you think you can describe him well enough? Toph won’t have a model to start with for him like she has for your mother.”

“Don’t worry, Suki,” Toph said. “If words fail him, he can always paint a portrait for me to reference instead.”

“Exactly,” Sokka agreed smugly. “Hey! Wait, I can’t tell if that joke is at my expense or yours.”

They all laughed, Suki flashing him an apologetic grin, but he took it in stride.

“Well I might as well get started while my model is available,” Toph said, setting down her plate and standing up. She summoned a chunk of white stone from the woods beyond the rear edge of the clearing and settled it in the center of the group. She stomped one foot down and a pillar of earth jutted up beneath her plate, raising it to within her reach. With a kick of her other foot, the white stone slab became a miniature doppelganger of Katara. Toph took another bite of food as Hakoda stood to give her further direction.

Suki turned to Katara. “So, do you have everything figured out for the ceremony? Were the acolytes able to find much about air nomad tradition?”

Katara nodded, swallowing another bite of her breakfast. “We have most of it ironed out. I just need to touch base with Aang and them about a few things. The acolytes said they found some information that they aren’t sure of.”

“Oh, really? What is it?”

“It’s something about our formal robes. They found mention of a practice in an earthbender’s journal from an air nomad wedding he attended, but it’s unclear if the practice belonged to the couple or to the small village in the Earth Kingdom where they were married.”

Sokka pulled his eyes away from the emerging image of his mother and leaned into their conversation. “Hey Katara, speaking of ceremonial things, I’ve decided that I should be part of Aang’s convoy.”

Katara smirked. “What a betrayal! Is this revenge for me choosing vegetarian food?”

“Hey, you’ll still have dad,” Sokka laughed. “You’re my sister, Aang is my brother. It was a tough choice.”

“No, I’m glad you’ll be with him,” Katara said, her smirk softening to a warm smile. “What about you, Suki?”

Suki looked between her and Sokka. “It really is hard to choose. But Aang was telling us more about the convoys earlier. He said the members of each side are meant to match and amplify the energy of the bride or groom. So I think I’d be more suited to do that for you than for him,” she said with a smile. “I love you both, but as a woman I relate to your experience more.”

Katara grinned. “I’ll be happy to have you.”

Toph cleared her throat. “Katara, Sokka, come take a gander. Your pops says she’s ready.”

They sprang up and walked around to the front of the statue, standing on either side of their father. Hakoda put an arm around each of them as they took in the sight of their mother’s smiling face. 

A long moment passed, and Suki came around to take Sokka’s hand. “She’s beautiful.”

Katara let out a sharp breath and rubbed the mist from her eye. “I don’t know why I didn’t expect to get emotional from this.”

Sokka laughed weakly at her and Hakoda squeezed them both tighter. “She would be so proud of you both. I know I am.”

Katara returned his embrace. She was thankful to have him there. Not that he ever outwardly protested her relationship, but she’d never been sure if he harbored any doubts about Aang being an airbender. But when she invited him to get there a week early, he was all too happy to accept, leaving his responsibilities to Malina in his absence. He’d acknowledged that although his visions for her looked different when she was younger, she’d formed her own life and become a woman while their tribe was fragmented by war, and he couldn’t expect her to return to a ‘normal’ that she hadn’t really known since before her mother was killed. She had her own path. 

Katara let out a cathartic sigh and looked over to Toph. “Thank you for this, Toph. I can’t wait for Aang to see them, too.”

Toph grinned. “It was a fun challenge. But speaking of Aang seeing them, I should hide her now, to be safe. The cry fest is over for now.”

They laughed and nodded, and Toph moved the statue of Kya just beyond the first row of trees past the clearing, then surrounded it with a case of plain earth. She summoned a new slab of stone and placed it where Kya had been. Then she turned to Sokka and cracked her knuckles. “Alright, let’s see how this goes.” 

Katara retrieved her empty plate and turned toward the cafeteria. “Something tells me I don’t want to witness this process,” she said over her shoulder. “I’m going to speak with the cooks and then touch base with Yee-Li. Good luck.”

Katara made her way back into the kitchen through the cafeteria. After thanking the cooks and confirming that the food was perfect, she returned to the dining area where the acolytes were still working on garments for the ceremony. Among them was Yee-Li, one of the first air acolytes, previously a co-president of the Avatar Aang Fan Club. Although Katara had a rocky start with some of the more fanatical acolytes, Yee-Li eventually warmed up to her as they unearthed more findings on the air nomads' philosophy of love. It wasn't a competition, and they managed to find respect for Aang's relationship with Katara.

Yee-Li waved her over excitedly to look at a predominantly blue garment. She carefully took it by the seams to hold it up as Katara approached. “Katara, it’s nearly ready!”

It unfurled, satin fabric and detailed embellishments shimmering as it moved. If they were at the south pole, she would have worn a special parka over layers of blues and whites. But here, it was much warmer, so the robe before her was a light and breezy. It was a rich, lapis blue tunic that cut the general shape of a parka, with three-quarter sleeves and lower hems that came to a rounded point just past the knee. All of the seams were edged with layers of applique in varying shades of blue to give the appearance of ocean waves, finished with a white border as if sea foam. The edging glimmered with streaks of the tiny rainbow beads that Toph had strung together earlier. On the table still were the longer, fine linen sleeves and leggings in a deep navy to go underneath it, as well as a sash to cinch everything together.

Katara was stunned. She knew it would be vibrant, because Aang’s robes never suggested that the air nomads would shy away from color. But she didn’t realize how decorated it would be. “Yee-Li, this is gorgeous.” She picked up one of the sleeves to feel the beadwork on it. “I don’t even know what to say. It’s beyond what I expected.”

Yee-Li beamed. “You thought it would be more muted, right? The air nomads were humble, but they knew how to celebrate a special occasion. Especially when it relates to an air nomad avatar. And translating that essence into a Water Tribe garment was a _lot_ of fun for us.”

Katara looked at her, widening her smile to a grin. “You did a fantastic job. To be honest, I can’t imagine what could be missing from this that you’d need my input on.”

“Ah, right!” Yee-Li carefully laid the garment back on the table and picked up a paper. “So, I’m sure you’ve heard some version of the concept of the red thread of fate?”

Katara thought for a moment. “I’ve heard about it here and there in our travels. We have a similar concept back home, of destinies being tied together. But obviously, not with red,” Katara laughed.

Yee-Li nodded. “It’s a pretty popular concept in the Earth and Fire nations. As you know, we found a record of an air nomad wedding. The two brides both had red embroidery on their wedding clothes over their hearts.” She handed Katara the paper. It was a sketch of a bride’s bust, rendered vaguely to give only an impression of what she described. Over the heart was an air symbol. 

“They each embroidered their own robes with the image of something to represent their partner,” Yee-Li continued. “It was their way of saying, ‘here’s why fate tied you to my heart’.”

“Wow, that’s very sweet,” Katara said.

“Aang thought so too. I showed him earlier this morning, and he was so excited,” Yee-Li said. “We can’t be sure if it was a common practice, or if it was just this one couple who did it, but Aang was totally inspired by it regardless. He must have told me ten different things he could stitch before saying he had the perfect design in mind, and then he ran outside with Zuko. I think he’ll probably work on his stitching after lunch.” 

Katara laughed. “That sure sounds like him. I wonder what his ideas were?” She raised her eyebrows innocently.

Yee-Li giggled. “Well, I’ve been sworn to secrecy, but he was really fond of the idea that he could show you what he thinks of you this way.”

Katara gave a half-shrug and a laugh. It was worth a try.

“By the way, it can be anything,” Yee-Li added. “I just drew an air symbol here as a quick example, but the ones in the journal were a tiger lily and a fruit tree. So don’t let this influence you too much.”

Katara took a deep breath. “Okay, well, no time like the present. Can I work on this here?”

“Of course!” Yee-Li rushed to another table for a large box, then brought it back and placed it on the table on its side, with the opening facing the nearby back wall. She folded Katara’s robe and placed it inside. “This way you can work on it without Aang seeing it by mistake if he barges in,” she said.

Katara sat down and picked up a nearby piece of chalk and scrap of fabric. There was no question how she would represent the Aang-shaped space in her heart. She tied up her hair and practiced drawing her idea on the scrap, then when she was satisfied, she pressed it to her tunic and rubbed it to transfer the image. Yee-Li circled back to give her a spool of thread, and she cut a length to begin.

She was no stranger to a needle and thread, but she’d never worked with such delicate fabric before. It took all of her concentration not to pull the thread too tight and cause the fabric to pleat. And the needle was much smaller than she was used to, which meant it was pointier, so she had to work even more carefully not to prick herself and bleed on the fabric. 

She finally finished the initial outline of her design when she felt a deliberate breeze on the back of her neck. She lowered her work and raised her head to see Aang crossing the room toward her, Momo on his shoulder. She set down her work and folded a corner of fabric over her progress, then got up to greet him.

“Hi sweetie,” she said with a smile. “How was your morning?”

Aang had a devilish glint in his eye when he reached her and leaned down to give her a peck on the lips. “I think you know it was fantastic.”

Katara swatted his arm. “The rest of it! What have you been up to all these hours?”

Aang grinned. “Missing you.” He dodged another swat and laughed. Momo jumped to Katara’s shoulder in distaste of the roughhousing.

“You’re impossible. What were you doing on the beach with Zuko?”

“Oh, _that_ ,” he joked. “Actually, I guess I should tell you part of it. Zuko pointed out last night before dinner that we should probably expect a lot of spectators to show up by boat. He was hearing a lot of rumors about it before he came here.”

Katara furrowed her eyebrows. “Okay, that makes sense. But what does that have to do with you being on the beach?”

Aang smirked. “I was merely setting up some barriers in the water to keep them from getting too close.”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

“I wasn’t trying very hard, but you get the idea. I’m not telling.” He stepped closer to her, trying to use his height and charm to disarm her. Momo lost patience for their flirting and took flight with a terse screech. 

Just then the door opened with more people coming in for lunch, among them Zuko, Suki, Toph, and Sokka. Momo made a beeline to land on Sokka’s head. He and Toph both looked annoyed as they all gathered around the table Katara had been occupying all morning. Yee-Li swooped in to gather Katara’s robe and tuck it away during the meal. 

Eating together was an amusing standoff of coded language and carefully worded updates of how their projects were coming along. It felt like no topic was safe, but they managed to make enough of a conversation about the guests they were expecting on the day of the ceremony.

Among them were Iroh and Mai. Iroh was to officiate the ceremony, but he agreed to stay with Mai in the capitol to help run things there until the day of the event. He’d been sending messenger hawks back and forth with Aang and Katara to plan the details. Of course, they kept most of those tidbits out of their lunchtime conversation, opting to keep conversation to the less interesting topic of seating arrangements.

When they finished lunch, Suki followed Sokka and Toph back outside for moral support. Zuko left to send a hawk to Mai. Aang and Katara stayed to work on their robes. 

It was a more sedentary and tedious craft than either of them were comfortable with for long spans of time, and the temptation to peek at each other’s work grew harder to resist the more antsy they became, so they agreed to work at separate times over the course of the week. They each had their own portions of the ceremony to finalize anyway, so they resigned themselves to seeing less of each other than they’d hoped in the days to come.

* * *

Aang was pensive as he watered the plants in the sitting room, an extension of his morning meditation. He couldn’t quite place the feeling he had about his impulses; maybe it was guilt. His mind kept returning to that first morning three days ago with Katara, three days ago now, and how different the sex was compared to the night before it. Desperate, longing sex, the kind that tried to make up for lost time. The kind that burned hot and big, and too fast to be fully savored.

Part of the reason he kept looking back on it was because they hadn’t had another opportunity to be together since then. Actually, he could have woken her up early again every day since, but he felt a twinge of insecurity about how the last time ended. She chose to decline his offers to touch her the way he did their first time together, so it’s not like he left her hanging, but he was also aware that it may have gone differently if she wasn’t still half-asleep. But still, she obviously liked it in the moment, and she’d communicated more than once that she didn’t need an orgasm to enjoy herself. 

All things considered, he was a bit confused about it. And unfortunately, their individual projects kept them separated most of the time, preventing them from having any opportunities to slow down enough for him to suss things out. He feared that another morning quickie would go the same way, furthering his confusion.

He moved to water the next plant by the window, shaking those thoughts out of his head. He decided it was something to have a conversation about when they got the chance, rather than kicking himself privately for it. He focused on the fact that they both had a good time. A _really_ good time. Her sleepy mewling replayed in his mind and he found himself wondering how she might sound in every other possible context. Quiet sex in a guest room, travel sex echoing through a cave, weightless sex in the clouds on his glider, hidden sex on the sea floor under a dome of air to breathe—

His thoughts seemed to manifest as the sound of water spilling, bringing him back to his task at hand. He’d over-filled the planter in front of him. It had been too long since he last watered any of them, and the soil was tight and dry, shrunken in from the sides of the pot. Despite their dire thirst, too much water too fast would simply run across the soil’s surface to the outer edge and trickle down against the terra cotta, draining out the bottom. Watering plants in this state without bending was especially meditative, because the key was to pool just enough water on the surface and let it sit until the soil gave way to it. Then slowly add more water, allowing it to gradually saturate to the roots.

Maybe guilt wasn’t exactly the feeling he had. A hasty watering was still better than no water at all, and with their busy schedules, they were both glad to have the memory of it. It just didn’t quite make it to the roots, so to speak, the way their first time did in its unhurried manner.

He finished watering the plants by using his bending to penetrate the soil without the wait. As soon as their hectic wedding itinerary was behind them in a few more days, he would take his time to saturate her.

* * *

It was the last day before the wedding, and Aang woke up even earlier than usual. He snuck out of bed, washed his face, and headed to the beach to meditate with the sunrise. Normally he would join the acolytes in the dining hall for morning meditation, but the past several days left the space occupied with half-finished projects. They all agreed that it wasn’t a conducive atmosphere, and they could practice their meditations individually, wherever it worked for them. 

Aang emptied his mind and breathed, slowing his thoughts and heart rate. The sun gradually beat warmer on his face as the cool ocean breeze countered it. The air felt crisp in his lungs. He felt centered, calm, and present.

And as soon as his internal clock felt satisfied with his practice, his mind returned to his immediate future. Zuko would eventually find him at the beach to help with the project that had been keeping him from Katara for most of the week. Hopefully Zuko would show up sooner than later, because Aang had a lot of notes to run by him. To pass the time, he flew around on his glider until he found Appa still sleeping in some shade, just to see if he’d like to play a few rounds of cloud tag. The answer was no.

So he returned to the beach to warm up with some hot squats. He did his normal amount for fire training, facing the ocean. Then he turned around to face the ceremony site and did two more sets to keep him busy while he surveyed it. 

The acolytes had put up a pergola the day before, but Aang and Katara had been undecided on whether or not to raise it up on an altar. Aang didn’t love the idea of conceptually putting themselves above their guests, but the separation of a slight elevation could make things feel more private. As he looked at it, he realized that elevating the land would really make the rugs and drapings pop, too. He moved from his squat to a lunge and heaved a platform of earth up from the sand, raising it by a few inches. It was low enough that it looked somewhat unintentional, so he raised it up a bit higher, nudging it a few times, each motion rumbling the surrounding earth.

Now it looked too tall. He inched it back down. Then up, down, down. That was good. Except if he looked at it from farther back, he didn’t like it anymore. Figuring he just needed to step away from it for a minute, he decided to go find Appa again, who ignored him again.

He returned and realized his obvious error: the altar was not positioned well against the cliffside behind it. He scooched the angle of it ever so slightly, then pushed it a bit farther back. Once he was satisfied with the position, he fought with the height again, adjusting it once or twice and looking at it from all sides before deciding his next course of action.

His back was turned to the path when he heard Zuko’s footsteps arrive, much sooner than Aang had even hoped. He turned around to see his sifu holding two cups of tea and slouching, his expression blank.

“Dude, what in the name of Oma’s bastard children are you doing?”

“What do you mean?” Aang asked. He thought it was pretty obvious. “I’m trying to figure out this altar. What do you think of it from that angle, by the way?”

Zuko took a sip from one of the cups and walked closer, handing the other one to Aang. “I think you woke me up too early. You were making a racket; it sounded like Appa was fighting another sky bison or something.”

Aang laughed. “Oh no, Appa is still sleeping. He was pretty grumpy when I tried to wake him up.” Zuko rolled his eyes. “Well, now that you’re here, I thought of some changes for my thing that I wanted to run by you. I was thinking the first section should actually be last, because it’s kind of less important. I mean it’s still important, but I just don’t think it should be the opener. Actually, what do you think? Maybe doing it last would end up ruining the flow and I should just scrap it—”

Zuko held up a hand, silencing him. He looked Aang up and down, then his expression softened and he relaxed. “What’s actually going on? You’re acting bonkers, even for you.”

Aang looked between Zuko and the altar, at a loss. He took a sip to think. His meditation had been refreshing, all his jumbled thoughts tossed away on the breeze and out of his head. But he’d run from them as soon as it was done, before they could catch up with him again. Now standing there stilled once more, his thoughts returned, stacking in an order that made a little more sense than before. “I guess I’m worried about making Katara feel like the wedding is all about me.”

Zuko hummed passively. “Is she unhappy with how things are shaping up?”

“No, not at all. I think she might be a little nervous about there being a lot of people watching, but otherwise she’s been nothing but happy with how it’s looking.”

“Okay. And you know she’s not the type of person to keep a grievance to herself, so what’s the problem?”

Aang looked at the altar again. It was only half as tall as Momo, so it shouldn’t have been so big in his mind. He realized he’d been using it to fill mental space and block out the thing that was actually bothering him, the reason he’d gotten up so early and was so eager to tell Zuko his changes to the thing. “I feel conflicted about the first section of my performance, and I’m not sure it’s a good idea anymore. I don’t want her to feel like the wedding is about me more than her. It’s happening at Air Temple Island, it’s going to look mostly like an Air Nomad wedding, and the only reason there will be extra people watching is because I’m the avatar. And yeah, she’s on board with all of that, but should I really be adding another spectacle that’s all about my own element?”

Zuko nodded, contemplating. “Now, this is just a stab in the dark, but have you tried talking to her about this?” he asked sarcastically.

Aang scoffed. “That’s not helpful! I want it to be a surprise. I can’t tell her about it.”

“So it’s a surprise for her.”

“Yeah, that’s what I just said.”

“So it’s _for her_.”

Aang opened his mouth and then abruptly closed it, feeling annoyed. “I don’t think you get it.”

“I think I do,” Zuko insisted. “You just said that she’s on board with the setting and the ceremony. She has control of the food, so you know she’ll be happy with that too. And if she’s happy with everything she knows about, then why would this one thing change that?”

Aang put his hands on his hips. “Because she has input on the things she knows about. If I add something she doesn’t know about, and it just reads as me showing off my airbending for a crowd, then I don’t want her to feel diminished by that, or feel like her culture is less important than mine.”

“Aang, I hear you, but you’re not giving her enough credit. Or yourself, to be honest. Bear with me for a second: tell me again why you wanted to do it in the first place.”

Aang crossed his arms, thoroughly frustrated with Zuko. “Because words feel inadequate.” 

Zuko waited for him to continue, but Aang just looked at him in irritation. Zuko rubbed his face. “You had so much more to say about this until now. Don’t force me to be the one to repeat all those sappy things.”

Aang looked away from him. “Everything else I said about it feels naive now.”

Zuko grimaced and took a breath. “It’s not naive. You said it’s the most direct way for an airbender to make their feelings known to everyone. You compared it to a meaningful painting, a profound haiku, and to the weight of the actual ceremony. You asked me specifically to help you arrange it because I was there with you to feel the effect of the dancing dragon as it relates to who we are as firebenders.”

Aang opened his mouth to argue at the mention of firebending, but Zuko continued over him. “So yes, it’s a display of airbending from the avatar. But Katara is aware that she’s marrying an airbender avatar. That’s who you are, and that’s how your emotions look, so you should express them. That’s the whole point of a wedding, anyway.”

Aang still looked uncertain, but he didn’t protest. They both mulled over it for a moment, and eventually Zuko was struck by a realization. “Do you think you’d feel this apprehensive if you weren’t the avatar, and if there were still other airbenders?”

He thought about it for a minute. If he was just a regular airbender in a world where that was normal, and he somehow still fell in love with Katara, then… “Probably not, but if things were like that, we might have decided to get married at her home village. A lot of things would be different.”

Zuko looked out at the ocean, in the direction of the mainland. That’s where Mai was slated to arrive by boat; Appa would have to taxi her from there to the island in light of the artificial reefs Aang had brought to the surface to keep public interest at bay. 

The reminder inspired Zuko to try a different approach with his friend. “You know, it’s pretty isolating to be Firelord, especially after revolting against my own father and trying to undo a hundred years of bad politics. People have misconceptions about everything I do, especially about my personal life. Whenever I try to get public attention on any of Mai’s accomplishments, people tend to ignore what I’m praising and fixate on what the act of praising it somehow says about _me_. It’s insane. But Mai doesn’t hold me responsible for how other people react. She just appreciates when I use my position to recognize her achievements.” 

Aang unfolded his arms, his jaw unclenching and comprehension dawning on him. 

“Do you understand? It’s not your fault that your identity draws attention,” Zuko continued. “And Katara would already be long gone if she had a real problem with it. If you want to use who you are to tell the world about her, then she’ll see that, regardless of how anyone else reacts.” Zuko sipped his tea, then shrugged. “And anyway, you’re going to follow it up with waterbending. She’s going to love it.”

Aang knew it was true; he wasn’t worried what Katara would think of his actions, but rather how everyone else’s opinions would affect what she thought. But had it not been for Katara consciously deciding to stop caring about other people’s opinions barely a week ago, she wouldn’t have been in bed next to him every night since. He found himself with a deeper sense of empathy for her former struggle to separate her own desires from external interference. 

Aang gave Zuko a sideways grin. “Wow Sifu Hotman, I had no idea you were such a romantic,” he teased.

Zuko frowned and took Aang’s tea from him. “A year of marriage and love advice from Uncle have broadened my horizons. But I told you not to call me Hotman. Now give me fifty hot squats.”

* * *

Katara woke up before Aang, a distant bird song pulling her into consciousness with its first few notes. She’d drifted in and out of sleep all night, her nerves and excitement making it difficult to rest. It was their wedding day. She couldn’t be happier to experience the outcome of it, but she did feel intimidated by it too. 

It was the avatar’s wedding. The last airbender’s wedding. People would write about this wedding, they’d remember it for decades. The thought of having dozens, if not hundreds of strangers and history itself be witness to their nuptials was daunting. At the same time, she looked forward to the world knowing that they belonged to each other. She just had to work through her nerves. She reached in front of her to trace a finger up the tattoo on Aang’s shirtless back. Expending some of her nervous energy might relax her.

Aang sighed as he stirred and extended his arms above him in a stretch, rolling over to face Katara. He landed flush against her, sharing her pillow, their noses touching. His right hand found her waist, holding her comfortably. 

Seeing his warm smile, Katara had a vague feeling that he was holding out on her by waking up before her all this time. It was an honest gaze, completely besotted and unfiltered in his barely awake state. A look that Katara most certainly gave to him on days when their roles were reversed. Dawn had yet to fully break, but the world never felt more vibrant. “My sun,” she greeted.

Aang squeezed her and grazed her lips. “My moon.”

Katara leaned into his whisper of a kiss, their smiles melting into soft caresses against each other. She sighed and leaned into him further, sucking gently at his lower lip. His tongue slid out to dance with hers while his hand began to slowly trace its way down the curve of her waist and hips.

She brought her leg up to hook over his hip and traced her fingernails softly down the trail of hair below his navel. She petted him there lazily, then crept her fingers into his waistband. He groaned and broke their kiss to look at her, hesitating.

“What’s wrong?”

He paused, looking slightly caught off-guard. He leaned in to kiss her neck, wanting to please her even as he stalled. “I wasn’t expecting you to initiate.” He kissed just below her ear and his hand slid up her back, under her shirt. “I... I want to draw this out.”

Katara whimpered under his affections, but his tone seemed to give a conflicting message. She used her hook on his hips and her grip on his pants to pull herself tighter against him. “What are you saying?”

Aang moaned quietly, struggling to stay the course he’d intended. He leaned back with a sigh and propped himself up on his elbow. “Trust me, I want to be with you. But I want to take my time with you when today is over and the week stops passing in such a blur.”

Katara took his hand from her waist and brought it to her lips. “Aang, you’re so sweet. I love that about you.” She ran her lips over his knuckles. “But we probably won’t have the energy to pick this up again tonight.” She kissed lower on his pointer finger before flicking it out straight and curling her tongue around it, pulling it into her mouth. 

Aang gasped and briefly forgot what they were talking about, hypnotized by the sight and imagining his finger replaced with something else. His memory returned and he smirked at her. “If it waits until tomorrow, then I’d have the entire day for you.”

Katara sucked on his finger, willing him to change his mind while internally considering his rationale. After it failed to sway him, she released him from her mouth. “But we have at least an hour right now.” 

He gave his arm a tug and she let it go. He laid his head beside her again and weaved his way back under the blankets to rest his hand on her thigh. “That’s not long enough,” he insisted. He gave her thigh an affectionate squeeze of apology.

He was trying to de-escalate, but his touch and the implication of his words made Katara shiver. She buried her face into his shoulder, grabbing his waist, her hips following forward to press once more into the firm bulge that contradicted his intentions. She whined at the injustice of being both denied and provoked. “You’re a horrible tease.” She tilted her face into his neck. “Is this really all you’ll give me?”

She was making it nearly impossible for him to stay on track. But he didn’t want any time limit imposed on him pleasing her. He felt that getting into it now, when they had a stressful—albeit happy—event looming over them, would be doing her a disservice. But teasing her in moments like this would make her enjoy it that much more when the time came. He squeezed her thigh again, enjoying anticipation that her desperation was building. “For now.” 

Her fingers at his waist dug into him in frustration. “Ok then.” She adjusted herself to move her right arm that had been against the mattress. 

Aang felt the movement between their bodies, but she wasn’t reaching for him. She let out a soft moan and he felt a slight, rhythmic pressure of her hand moving between their groins. His blood rushed when he realized she was touching herself. 

He had not anticipated this as a possible outcome of turning down her advances. He laid motionless, completely stunned by her brazenness, and unsure of what to do. He certainly didn’t want to tell her to stop. He supposed that if he was more of a witness to her pleasure than a participant, then maybe this was actually ideal, and they could both have their way.

He remembered to breathe and moved his hand higher up her thigh, squeezing as he went. He resolved to tease her enough to leave her wanting still when she finished.

She squirmed in response, pressing against his erection and turning her face to nip at his jaw. She exaggerated the motion of her hand so that it rubbed harder against his cock, goading him to give her more.

He panted and moved his hand up under her shorts to the soft spot where her thigh met her rear. He clutched her there and pulled, knowing it would have the effect of tugging at her entrance, spreading it slightly, torturing her with the reminder that he wasn’t going to do anything to fill it.

She whimpered and kissed the corner of his lips. She was annoyed by how collected he was, how easily he found ways to touch her that only increased her frustration. She couldn’t have been the only one who was bothered. “Too bad you won’t feel how wet I am. You’re _so close_.”

His eyes widened and he returned her kiss with ferocity, pressing forward into her and using his hand to roll her onto her back. He moved his hand to her right leg now closer to him and stroked her inner thigh. He reached his left hand down to fondle himself, joining in the loophole to his reservations that she was exploiting. 

Katara brought her free hand up to his cheek and ran her thumb along his lower lip. She breathed heavily, so frustrated and delighted at the same time. Any satisfaction she got from this would be fleeting, overridden by the thoughts of all the things he _wasn’t_ doing. The things he would save for later. She replaced her thumb with her lips for a fraction of a second, and he followed her almost imperceptibly when she pulled back. She felt she might be getting to him. “I wonder what you’re planning to do to me,” she murmured, hoping his thoughts about it might become real.

His hand inched higher up her inner thigh and under her shorts again, this time treacherously close to her aching center. Slowly, painfully slowly, his hand crept into her panties, brushing along the side of her pussy. And then he pulled back, drawing a sharp groan from her.

He hummed in self satisfaction and pressed his erection into her hip, taunting her with it. He continued to stroke her inner thigh, over and over, making and breaking so many empty promises. Each time getting close enough to give her hope of going further, only to back away again as she moaned in devastation.

The repetition of his pattern allowed him a moment of clarity through his arousal. This was an opportunity to get some answers without having to unpack his insecurities on her just yet. He ran his hand up her thigh once more, this time reaching to feel her hand through her shorts. He felt her fingers moving where her clit would be and lingered there, sensing the details by way of her motions. She made quick, short passes, back and forth. Her cadence was steady and unchanging. The flimsy fabric separating their hands was hot and damp from the spread of her arousal. His pulse thrummed in his ears as if she was beating it herself.

“Feel something you like?” she asked, bucking her hips up, stealing a caress from his hand over her own. He gasped quietly and pulled away, freezing for half a second. But that encouraged her; the fact that he was unable to immediately tease her further was an opening. “Do you like how I touch myself?” she whispered.

He smirked and let out a shaky breath, trying to play it off as a laugh and failing quite obviously.

“It’s how I’ve always done it when I thought of you… and then you gave me that _toy_ ,” she drawled, shifting her hips aimlessly with need. It was still in her bag, somewhere. She hadn’t managed to sort out her belongings all week. 

He made no attempt to answer, but she could feel that his strokes on himself picked up speed, and his hand on her thigh started to grip her harder. She wanted more from him, as much as she could get, and he seemed to respond to her shameless musings. “Is it how you used to imagine me at night?”

Aang’s breath caught in his throat. No, he never imagined her to talk to him like this. 

“Whimpering and begging for you…”

But as for the rest of it—“spirits, yes.” He kissed her neck and moved his hand up along her side to grope her breast over her shirt.

“ _Oh_ … soft and hot...”

Aang suddenly pulled away and kicked off the blankets, sitting up. Lying on his side was too limiting. He straddled her across her hips and hovered, leaving her just enough space to carry on pleasuring herself. 

She bit her lip upon seeing the size of his erection jutting up and out of his pants. Despite withholding any gratifying contact, everything about their situation was starting to feel equally as intimate as their previous unions, but in a different way. Their bodies yearned for each other, his weight pressed her further into the bed where his knees met the mattress, and her sultry words drew him closer and deeper into her lustful energy. But instead of physically joining, instead of exchanging relief, they were exchanging secrets. Katara traced her finger along the inside of his waistband, just barely avoiding his pulsing cock, enticing him to resume touching it for her to see in this new position. 

Aang huffed in amazement at her and returned to stroking himself, feeling himself become even firmer in his hand under her rapt attention. He held his member at an angle to give her a better view and passed his thumb over the tip, spreading around the bead of moisture that her unabashed pursuit inspired out of him. He moved the rest of his grip up and down at an unhurried pace to underscore the nuances of his handling: the way his thumb rubbed subtly along the head, how his fingers were spread to allow a broader grip, how his wrist flicked at the top of each stroke. But soon it was not enough, and the amorous _need_ in her eyes was too much to leave ignored. He leaned down to kiss her fervently, lingering briefly at her lips before dragging his teeth down her neck and planting kisses where it curved into her shoulder. 

Katara moaned, absolutely thrilled by the scrape of his bite. He’d done that once before out of frustration the first time they were together, and she smirked with satisfaction that he felt just as tortured as she did. She moved her hand to the bicep of his arm supporting him and squeezed for her own enjoyment, relishing in how similar the flexed muscle was to his hardened length. The warmth in her center pulsed to a burn, all her nerves and needs coalescing toward a nearing release.

The trail of Aang’s lips was interrupted by her shirt collar. He sat up again and pulled her shirt up enough to expose her breasts, and it took everything in him not to touch them, lean in to lick them, suck on them to hear her response. Instead he took her hand from his arm and placed it where he desperately wanted his own to be. 

She looked at him and pinched herself with a moan, pushing her breast inward to create a line of cleavage. She watched his gaze fix on it, the desire on his face pushing her closer toward the edge. He put his hand on her ribs, just skirting the edge of her other breast, sending goosebumps across her skin. She kept toying with her nipple and played up her moans, noticing how he stroked himself faster at her every expression of pleasure. “I like watching you,” she muttered breathlessly. “And I like that you’re watching me.” 

Aang grunted in agreement. He was captivated by her, teetering on the edge of climax, but holding off to enjoy the sight of her as long as he could. He watched her gaze move back to his cock as she became quiet, her breath catching in her throat and coming out in uneven bursts. She was on the brink. He braced his hand on the bed and leaned down close enough to share her breath, tormenting her with the absence of a kiss, memorizing the heat with which she stared at his lips. “Then let me watch you come,” he breathed. 

Her eyes locked onto his just before they slammed shut, her head turning back, mouth agape. A sharp moan escaped that staggered out of her in bursts as she shuddered beneath him.

Aang sat up to give her space and watch her writhing, her teeth bared and brow twisted in knots. He would never grow tired of putting that look on her face, or of watching it melt into a satisfied daze as she eventually started to come down. He was so enchanted by it that he didn’t notice her looking at his crotch until he felt her firmly groping his sack through his pants. 

The surprise of it did him in. It was a new sensation that he’d somehow never thought to explore on his own. Feeling it by her hand was more than he was prepared for and he held back a strangled cry, hot ejaculate bursting up her stomach and chest as forcefully as if she’d bent it out of him. He groaned and braced himself on his hand, suddenly fatigued as his orgasm gushed out of him. He lingered there to recover, breathing heavily with her and staring at his milky fluids splashed across her dark skin. The unexpected sight turned him on all over again. He was almost confused to be looking at his release while feeling suddenly unsatisfied at the same time.

He raised his head to see Katara also transfixed by his eruption. Her expression was unreadable, and he started to feel embarrassed that he hadn’t even tried to catch it. “Sorry,” he said, getting up. “Wait here, I’ll get a towel.” 

He got up to retrieve two towels from the bathroom and ran one of them under hot water. When he returned to the bedroom, Katara was dragging a finger slowly through the viscous rivers on her stomach. He watched as she raised her hand to inspect it and a line of his sticky fluids clung between her skin and her finger. Speechless, he sat on the edge of the bed and handed her the dry one to hold.

Katara looked up at him with a coy expression, propped up on her elbows as he started to wipe his semen off of her. “Don’t be sorry. I liked it.”

He was already shocked by her, but his eyebrows shot up higher somehow. “Really?”

She looked at her stomach and nodded. “I wanted to see it. I didn’t know it would be so forceful… and _substantial_. The thought of that going in me...” She trailed off and looked from her finger to his eyes. She brought her finger to her mouth and licked it clean while he smirked and sucked in a gasp through his teeth. “Well, you got your way. I still want you,” she laughed.

He blushed furiously as she rested her head down on the pillow again, letting out a sigh of renewed longing. He was surprised at the suggestion that she felt gratification when he came inside her. It was pleasurable for him, but he’d assumed there wasn’t much to experience for her, at least compared to the motions leading to it. He wiped up the last of the mess and cleaned himself too, then took the other towel back from her to wipe them both dry. “Does it actually feel like much when it happens inside you?”

She pulled her shirt back down and looked up at the ceiling, considering his question. “I can feel the pulse of it. It’s subtle, but it’s…” She paused, searching. “It feels good. In some instinctive way, it feels _really_ good. It feels like disobeying time.”

He smiled at the satisfaction in her voice but squinted in confusion, trying to make sense of that last part. “What?”

She put an arm over her face and laughed. “I don’t know, you were frozen for so long, and we’ve been through so much together.” She hesitated. “The past brought us to where we are now, trying to make a better future. I don’t know if this makes any sense. In the moment, time feels meaningless.”

He felt a surge of boundless adoration for her. “Oh, I think I get it.” He calmly folded the towels together with the clean side facing out and stood to place them on the floor. Then he turned to her with a grin, leaping back onto the bed over her and scooping her into a tumble across the sheets. She shrieked and laughed, landing on top of him as he barraged her skin with what felt like a hundred kisses, one for each frozen year that he waited for her. 

He let his head fall to his pillow and felt a sort of temporal shiver. This day was the third instance of her smiling down on him and turning his life over.

She rested her head on his shoulder, letting her weight fall to his side, their legs still tangled together. She brought up a hand and he met it with his own, lacing their fingers. 

Aang pulled her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it, enjoying the quiet calm with her. Idle moments alone had been few and far between the past week. And this would be their last time together until the ceremony; they both had personal rituals to go through separately before it was time.

“Will you stay a little longer before you leave to meditate?” Katara asked.

He kissed the top of her head. “Of course. I can meditate right before I go to the men’s dorm. I’ll stay until then.”

She looked up and smiled at him. “Bathe with me?”

He smiled and blasted them up off the bed to carry her to the bathroom, laughing as she squealed and clung to him.


End file.
